Alien vs. Alien

that system? “The U.S. didn’t get involved in World War Two until they were attacked. We had servicemen and -women going to help the cause, but Pearl Harbor was the official entry point. Something big and unavoidable.”
    “Where are you going with this?” Tito asked.
    “Not sure yet.” I was almost there, though. A strong suspicion niggled. “Eddy, I need Chuckie’s files on us, and I need them yesterday.”
    “Working on it,” he snapped. “And the ten other things you want immediately, too. I’m only human.”
    “True enough. Mister White, why were the Peregrines sent to us?”
    “Ostensibly because the flock was ready and they’re a traditional gift.”
    “Uh-huh. A traditional gift that came with gift cards strongly suggesting Chuckie, Abigail, and Naomi needed to take up residence in the Embassy. A traditional gift that warned us to keep an eye on Chuckie. If we know what’s coming, they know what’s coming. We’re England, they’re the U.S. They have more troops, but they’re waiting for proof that they need to get involved.”
    “An entire space armada isn’t proof?” Franklin asked.
    “Colonel, how fast does the U.S. commit troops when our allies get pissed off at each other and take their familial disputes out of the private arena and into the public one?”
    “We’re slow to commit,” he admitted.
    “Right. Because we don’t want to back the wrong side, make the problem bigger than it is, be accused of trying to take over. We want to see if ourallies can figure out what to do on their own. If they can’t, and it looks bad, and they beg us, then we come in.”
    “That’s standard for most of the superpowers,” Oliver said.
    “Most countries, really,” Franklin added.
    “Right. Well, as far as superpowers go, the Alpha Centauri system has way more of them than we do.”
    “But what are they waiting for?” Tito asked. “Reynolds and Jeff are gone, we have superbeing clusters all of a sudden, international unrest of the highest order, and a huge war looming.”
    “I don’t know what they’re waiting for us to do. But until we do it, they’re staying out of our affairs.”
    “Speaking of surrender,” Armstrong said quietly, “you do realize that the moment the head of the C.I.A. and Department of Defense realize Mister Reynolds is missing and presumed dead, they’ll move Esteban into his position. And if your suspicions are correct—and I’m sure they are—he’ll suggest the U.S. broker a surrender to the invaders.”
    “Wow, Senator, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad you’re with us on this one. Right you are, and the Bad Guy Scheme du Jour falls nicely into place.” We needed help. I needed help. “I need to call James. Or my mom. Or James and my mom.”
    “Wait,” Stryker said. “I think you need to see this.”

    Yi

CHAPTER 73

    S TRYKER WAS BUSY AT HIS KEYBOARD. I trotted over. “It’s a computer screen with what looks like code on it. Why am I looking at it?”
    “Okay, I meant I need to tell you what it says. I’m decoding in my head, because I want to make sure I’m on the right track. Chuck’s not above installing a kill switch.”
    “You mean, you guess the decode wrong and it all disappears?”
    “Right. So . . . who’s Captain America?”
    I took a moment and refrained from a variety of snappy comebacks. “I assume you mean, do I think Captain America is a code name for someone, right?”
    “Yes.”
    Considered the options. “Got to be James.”
    “He’s not a Captain any more,” Naomi said.
    “No, but Captain America is like the perfect man, and he’s also the leader of the Avengers.”
    “Whoever it is, he’s supposed to take control of these files if he’s not incapacitated,” Stryker shared.
    “See? I’m right, it’s James. He lives for the light reading.”
    Stryker nodded. “Makes sense. But let me run the others by you. If you can figure them out without too much trouble, I can feel confident I have it all right.”
    “I’m flattered.”
    “You’re the protocol, Kitty. The first thing I decoded said ‘Run this through a CAT scan.’ It’s not flattery so much as doing what Chuck said to do.”
    “You say tomato, I say whatever.”
    He sighed. “So, Wolverine, that’s you, right?
    “Right.
    “Professor X?”
    “Mister White.” I’d called White that during Operation Confusion.
    “Cyclops?”
    I was tempted to say Jeff, but thought about it. “Betting that’s Christopher.”